Poll: Parents back standardized testing

2:14 PM,
Aug. 18, 2013

Burgess-Peterson Elementary School principal Robin Robbins, center, meets with students during an after-school study program in April in Atlanta, Ga., in preparation for state standardized testing. A new poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds parents of school-age children view standardized tests as a useful way to track student progress and school quality. Most parents say their own children are given about the right number of standardized tests, according to the AP-NORC poll. And almost three quarters say they favor changes that would make it easier for schools to fire poorly performing teachers.

Written by

JENNIFER AGIESTA
and PHILIP ELLIOTT

WASHINGTON - Often criticized as too prescriptive and all-consuming, standardized tests have support among parents, who view them as a useful way to measure both students' and schools' performances, according to an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll.

Most parents also say their own children are given about the right number of standardized tests, according to the AP-NORC poll.

They'd like to see student performance on statewide exams used in evaluating teachers, and almost three-quarters said they favored changes that would make it easier for schools to ...